It’s important to make a distinction between “socialized” care, “free” care, and “universal” care. A healthcare plan that is described by one of those terms is not necessarily described by all of them (even outside of the US)
The US has a large number of socialized healthcare programs, several free healthcare programs, but nothing that is 100% universal. Americans don’t have any reservations about paying for healthcare for the poor, elderly, veterans, etc. People in the US generally hate the idea of anyone qualifying who makes more money than they do, which is one of the reasons why universal plans don’t go over well. The other reason is that a truly universal plan would probably uproot the existing health insurance system, which scares some people who are satisfied with the status quo.
Our existing systems are mainly a result of compromise:
> “let’s have a healthcare plan that covers everyone”
> “you want to tax the working class American to pay for healthcare for the rich? And bankrupt they insurance companies that insure our middle class? And kill jobs?”
> “ok, let’s compromise. Let’s make a plan that covers [insert group of people that voters will feel sorry for]”
And repeat about every decade or so.
That’s how America’s fragmented healthcare system was born.
> > “you want to tax the working class American to pay for healthcare for the rich?
This is where America should have answered "Yup, you betcha!" Because, you'd be taxing the rich even more, but since they'd also benefit from it, they'd have much less grounds to protest against it.
In places like Sweden, billionaires receive the same universal child benefit as everyone else, largely for this exact reason.
The US has a large number of socialized healthcare programs, several free healthcare programs, but nothing that is 100% universal. Americans don’t have any reservations about paying for healthcare for the poor, elderly, veterans, etc. People in the US generally hate the idea of anyone qualifying who makes more money than they do, which is one of the reasons why universal plans don’t go over well. The other reason is that a truly universal plan would probably uproot the existing health insurance system, which scares some people who are satisfied with the status quo.
Our existing systems are mainly a result of compromise:
> “let’s have a healthcare plan that covers everyone”
> “you want to tax the working class American to pay for healthcare for the rich? And bankrupt they insurance companies that insure our middle class? And kill jobs?”
> “ok, let’s compromise. Let’s make a plan that covers [insert group of people that voters will feel sorry for]”
And repeat about every decade or so.
That’s how America’s fragmented healthcare system was born.